I get dozens of questions each week through my contact email. By far, the biggest question I get is “What type of grass seed should I use for my lawn?” Below I will list some of the most common and hardy turf grass varieties for lawns in the Midwest, zone 5. (you can stretch them to zones 4 and 6 too)

Keep in mind that there is a difference in adding seed to an existing lawn, filling in bare or thin spots, and starting a lawn from scratch. Whatever you do, never use only one type or species of grass in your lawn. Seed mixtures are best as one will pick up in place of the other during drought, disease or insect pressure. Temps should be above 60 degrees during the day and above 40 at night for best germination.

Kentucky Bluegrass

The primary grass planted in zone 5 is Kentucky Bluegrass. It’s a quality turf grass and makes a fine, soft textured lawn. It has the ability to fill-in thin areas without reseeding (a bare spot the size of a basketball will fill in within a couple months with proper watering, mowing and fertilizing). Newer varieties are more resistant to disease and drought as well. It performs best in full sun, but can be mixed with a fine fescue for use in shady areas. Bluegrass can take several weeks or more to germinate and establish depending on site conditions, so be patient and keep it moist.

Perennial Rye is the ultimate companion grass. It mixes and blends in with almost any lawn. Most of the perennial ryegrass used in lawns is in a mix of Kentucky Bluegrass or Turf Type Tall Fescue. Its fast establishment time works well with the slower establishment time of Bluegrass and Tall Fescue. It is also a fine textured grass that does well during drought. It is not as cold tolerant as Bluegrass but will survive just fine. This is why I always recommend seed blends!

Fine Fescues

Red, hard and chewings fescues are all used throughout the midwest. Their primary use is in blends with either Tall Fescue or Kentucky Bluegrass on shady lawns. While they can be planted alone, usually they are a part of a mix. Creeping Red is the most popular of the varieties because it looks best as turf. Hard & chewings are used in blends for areas in which increased shade or bad soil types are more of a problem. Here is an article on testing your soil and lime treatments. In addition, there is the Eco Lawn Fescue seed available that can be grown in shade or sun with similar astounding results. It is a good choice if you are unsure of your lawn’s sun and shade content.

Tall Fescue

Tall Fescue is a cool season grass with a coarser, wider blade texture. Leaves usually range as wide as 1/4 inch (like the cultivar called ‘Kentucky 31′), though most modern varieties are finer leaved (’Armada’ is a cultivar that is softer and thinner, see pictures here of Armada Tall Fescue). It has increased in popularity in the midwest due to its good drought and heat tolerance allowing the turf to stay green in hot summers that usually send bluegrass into dormancy. It is often used on home lawns, roadsides, parks and playgrounds. If you are looking for a turf type tall fescue seed that is both drought tolerant and softer under foot, the Eco Lawn Fescue seed is your best bet.

Turf Type Tall Fescue is very susceptible to leaf spot fungus in later Spring and rust fungus is summer. However, proper soil pH can reduce the effects and help it recover. My lawn is a mixture of Tall Fescue (Armada) and Perennial Rye. I apply a granular fungicide once per year to reduce disease in my lawn. I am also careful to only water my lawn in the mornings before 9AM. In addition, when disease is present, I catch my clippings instead of mulching so as not to spread the fungus.

Zoysia Grass

(disclaimer: I do not recommend using this grass anywhere in the Midwest because it will not green-up until early June… but if you must…)

Zoysia Grasses are grown successfully from Northern Georgia to Northern Illinois. Zoysia makes a beautiful, thick lawn with a medium textured leaf. There are several lawns in Chicagoland that have been seeded or plugged with Zoysia and they do just fine.

Zoysia grass originated from areas in Southeast Asia, China and Japan. It is a low growing, creeping grass, heat resistant, and crunchy under bare feet. Zoysia is slow to establish but aggressive and chokes out weeds and doesn’t get grubs. Once it’s established, it’s extremely thick!

Final notes

If you are starting a lawn from scratch, you can do like I did and use Turf Type Tall Fescue mixed with Perennial Rye. If you are seeding bare spots and are not sure what grass types your existing lawn contains, choose a seed with bluegrass and rye grass mixed and you’ll be just fine. Never buy anything labeled “quick grow” as this is oftentimes made up of annual grasses that die after the first season.

If you are doing a general overseeding after aeration, you can add a mix for sun or shade. It’s a good idea to add new cultivars to older lawns to improve their resilience.

If your lawn is bluegrass, DO NOT add tall fescue to it as the fescue will stick up above the rest and look funny.

21 Responses to “What Type of Grass Seed Should I use for my Lawn?”

Why are you telling people to seed aeration? In the areas around Philadelphia, PA where we have to do several passages with the aerator because our soil is nothing but clay, not percolation, we would loose a huge amount of seed into the deep holes.

Hi Hans, in the Chicago area, we also have clay based soil.
I have done thousands of overseeds and very little of the seed actually “falls into the holes”
Most of it gets stuck just below the thatch layer where it contacts the top of the soil and stays moist. (you only get about 15% germination in the best case scenario when seeding an existing lawn)
I always do double-pass on my aerations.
FYI–if seed does fall in the holes (which are no more than 2″ deep in most cases), that’s a good thing because that is the ultimate in seed-to-soil contact.
Please feel free to comment often, you are welcome here.
AL

Better sweet than sour!
Turf Type Tall Fescue is an excellent choice for lawns. There is, however, clumping tall fescue that grows in lawns and it is undesireable.
If you buy tall fescue seed in the store, it will be the turf type and not the clumping type.
I am glad you are into grass BiG Pap! Me too!

[...] The other side of the equation is keeping the turf itself healthy under stress. I would recommend using Turf Type Tall fescue blended with perennial rye grass. Tall fescue is a bit more coarse than bluegrass and stands up to a beating a little better. If you lived further south, I’d recommend Zoysiagrass, but where you live, it will stay dormant until later May. If you can live with brown grass until May, then go for Zoysia. (but I think the Tall Fescue will do just fine) Here’s a great article on grass seed. [...]

LandLocked– I have seen the Google ads for the ecolawn fescue and I have been on their site. I agree that the seed they sell looks interesting but I have never used it.
I also don’t know what the cost is, but I would not pay more than $4.50 per pound.
Hope that helps you and good luck.

[...] turf grass varieties for lawns in the Midwest, zone 5. you can stretch them to zones 4 and 6 too …http://lifeandlawns.com/2008/02/26/what-type-of-grass-seed-should-i-use-for-my-lawn/What Type of lawn grass is most common in the Triangle? Raleigh …What Type of lawn grass is most [...]

i was wondering what kind of grass seed we should use for our yard? we live in alabama around the montgomery area and our front yard consist mostly of hard red clay. our back yard is plentiful with grass, in fact it grows very thick, but we just cant get anything to grow over the front. what type of grass should we use and how should we go about doing it? thank you.

We have made a new lawn and used seeds labelled “contractors blend”. I live in a cool zone ( PA). The new grass is about 5-6 weeks old but seems very very soft and hard to cut. Could it be that the grass is still young and may toughen up after cutting and cutting? the blades seems very fine and easy to dry. Any advise?